Hukay

Microlithic Sites of Mandla 91grouping of the Mandla sites on the basis of tool assemblages is presentedin Table 3.Table 3. Mandla Prehistoric Sites by Tool AssemblagesSitesTool AssemblagesI Manadei , Partala, and Gullu-Khoh Large tools and microlithsII RamnagarIII Amdara, Babaiha (Rat), Bhaisadah,Chiri, Dongar Mandla, Gadhar,Ghughra, Gonjhi Ryt., Kachnari,Kui Mal, Kunmha, Salhepani(Dobhi),and Tarbani DobhiPredominantly large toolsPredominantly microliths, largetools almost rareFrom Archaeological to Ethnological PresentLandscape and ecology and ecological resources of any region notreally affected either by recent human activities or by any major tectonicupheaval expectedly would not much change over in just a few hundredyears. The archaeological sites in Mandla, having continued untilrecently, give us an opportunity to understand the adaptation of StoneAge culture/technology in ecological perspective. Given the fact thatMandla ecology did not change much from the time of foragers armedwith microliths roamed free, the Stone Age culture of the region and itsresource utilisation pattern could be reconstructed drawing parallels fromcontemporary situations. In prehistoric archaeological research, open airsite receives less attention over the well preserved stratified one. But, inunderstanding Stone Age culture in living ecological perspective [i.e.Perkington’s (1980) concept of “place”] such sites may have greaterpotentials, as we will see in the Mandla case.Prehistoric Cultural ContinuityIn Mandla, mixed association of “large tools and microliths” aswell as homogeneous “microliths only” have been discovered, but therewere no homogeneous large tools as yet. Microlithic assemblage oftencontains large tools of earlier phase (Mishra et al. 2002; Mohanty 1988; Ota1986 cited in Misra 2001). In fact, the assignment of Mesolithic sites to aspecific assemblage is given on the basis of microliths, which constituteonly a small percentage of the total tool types (see Perdaen et al. 2008).However, in case of open air sites in Mandla, the possibility of mixing upof large tools from earlier culture with microliths of later period cannot be